Thesis

A tuneable quantum gas for matter wave interferometry and soliton experiments

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2020
Thesis identifier
  • T15691
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201584876
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • The thesis reports on two strands of experiments in which we employ Bose-Einstein condensates of caesium atoms. Caesium provides favourable scattering properties due to a rich spectrum of magnetic Feshbach resonances at low fields. In particular, we take advantage of the tunability of the interaction strength to implement experiments to study matter-wave interferometry and solitons.;In a first series of experiments, we employ a magnetic levitation scheme and the tunability of caesium BEC to measure micro-g accelerations by using atomic interferometry, demonstrating free-evolution times of 1 s. We analyse the intrinsic effects of the curvature of our force field due to the magnetic levitation, and we observe the effects of a phase-shifting element in the interferometer paths.;In the second series of experiments, we exploit the tunability of our Bose-Einstein condensate to generate bright matter-wave solitons in quasi-1D geometry.We study the fundamental breathing mode frequency of a single matter-wave soliton by measuring its oscillation frequency as a function of the atom number and confinement strength and we observe signatures of the creation of secondorder solitons.;Aside from introducing some general concepts of ultra-cold atomic collisions and BECs, I also present a brief overview of the experimental apparatus. This includes details of the vacuum setup, laser cooling, magnetic field coils and diagnostic procedures, and sequence for generating BECs of caesium atoms.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Kuhr, Stefan
  • Haller, Elmar
Resource Type
DOI
Date Created
  • 2020
Former identifier
  • 9912922288602996

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